Texas Border Sheriff Says His County Is 'Under Siege'

A Texas border sheriff told the House Homeland Security Committee his county is "under siege" by illegal migrants and drug trafficking under the Biden administration's border polices.

"Currently we are under siege by illegal aliens and smugglers coming through the country, trying to get destinations within the United States," Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe said Wednesday at the House Homeland Security field hearing in Pharr, Texas.

"With the current open-door policy, Kinney County has seen a dramatic increase in alien activity."

Coe testified his riverside border county is averaging 160-180 illegal migrant crossings "per night that are going through the county unchallenged."

"That comes up to roughly 60,000 people entered through my county this year," he said, adding they are considered "got aways" by his county, "because we don't have the resources to track and try to apprehend these people walking through the county."

Coe's testimony came at the same hearing where U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz rejected DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and President Joe Biden's claims the U.S. has operational control of the U.S. southern border.

Coe's county apprehended 741 human smugglers and filed more than 3,000 felony cases in 2022. There were just 169 human smugglers apprehended in 2021, an increase of over 438%.

"We are currently on track right now to exceed over 900 human smugglers for the year," he told Republicans members of the Homeland Security Committee. "If February alone, the shortest month of the year, we did 95 smugglers."

Democrat members of the committee, potentially anticipating the pointed rebuke of their border policies, boycotted and refused to show for the field hearing.

Related Stories: